How do we deal with Pirate attacks?

rattler said:
Been to the East Of Africa? Does not sound like, really: "They decide" and "prove it" do not match with the social layout there, I am afraid.

OTOH, UN has done nation/state building before, why not here?: Germany (not strictly UN then), Haiti (everything there is UN, from the top down), Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan (latter maybe not the best example)

Rattler
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I have to admit I don't really give a flying rats arse about Somalian politics (or any other countries for that matter) as long as they keep their politics at home, for all I care the entire African continent can be run by psychotic nutjobs who slaughter their own people by the bus load on a daily basis because that it a problem that the people of these nations have to sort out for themselves but the minute they jump the border and start stealing my crap I am happy to see them blown off the face of the earth.

The simple reality is that as long as we do effectively nothing to stop these people they will continue to do it but I promise you the day the forces floating around the gulf of Aden are told to stop piracy with whatever force is necessary it will stop.

Until the "civilised" world gets away from continually trying to find excuses for these people and doing all it can to placate them we will always have this problem.
 
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The UN have tried to get some sort of reason to invade that nation by Op Restore hope 1 & 2.

The US have tried once on their own.
That place is just not fixable.

Monty, you are hitting it right on the head.
Good thing you are not in another paygrade.
 
Ok..
Since none of the British members have brought it up I will..

How about bringing the Q-ships back?
I doubt that the seathieves outside the cost of Somalia have even heard about their existance?

It could also be used with the now existing ROE,s..
Just a thought.
 
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KJ said:
Ok..
Since none of the British members have brought it up I will..

How about bringing the Q-ships back?
I doubt that the seathieves outside the cost of Somalia have even heard about their existance?

It could also be used with the now existing ROE,s..
Just a thought.
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KJ Seems similar to what I suggested in my first post?

How about arming just a fraction of the vessels with hidden ‘Special Forces’ so the pirates don’t know which vessels they can safely apprehend? It would give them something to think about. Probably there would be too few interceptions.
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Q ships have also been suggested here, this also describes more precisely what they were in WW1/2

Attacks on merchant ships by pirates originating on the Somalia coast have brought suggestions from some security experts that Q-ships be used again to tempt pirates into attacking a well defended ship .[4]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship
 
MontyB said:
I have to admit I don't really give a flying rats arse about Somalian politics whatever force is necessary it will stop.
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Thats good Monty because their politics are what the clan elders say and what the Mullahs approve. :-P
 
perseus said:
KJ Seems similar to what I suggested in my first post?



Q ships have also been suggested here, this also describes more precisely what they were in WW1/2


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship
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I wouldn,t say I suggested ships should get their own special forces.
Firsst off the number of the type of troops available wouldn´t cut it..They are in high demand in all theaters.

I know what Qships are.
Do you think heavily armed ships would work?
 
KJ said:
I wouldn,t say I suggested ships should get their own special forces.
Firsst off the number of the type of troops available wouldn´t cut it..They are in high demand in all theaters.

I know what Qships are.
Do you think heavily armed ships would work?
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It depends what you mean by "heavily armed". I think a single 20mm CIWS would solve amost any problem a ship is likely to encounter. Coupled with a high definition radar for detection of mother ships and attack craft at 20NM or so, even multiple attacks could be defeated very quickly.

Locate the targets, give them adequate time to show their intentions, then allow them into relatively close range (500-600metres) to ensure a first punch knockout.
 
With forces aboard you could a) capture the pirates, b) learn where their base is, then c) slowly feed them to the sharks. I suppose b and c could be combined.

It's the same principle; a disguised ship to trap the pirates. I only posted the Wiki article to inform others who didn't know what Q ships are!
 
Another method to ponder would be to stop or slow the skiffs to give the target time to escape.

This would address many of the problems seen with other measures, as it would not have the risk of friendly fire, the cost of tens of thousands for mercs or the millions to employ Non Lethal stuff like The Active Denial system (its three millions would be as high a cost as the potential ransom).

Two methods come to mind:

- 1. The snare gun used to defend vs terrorists on the Thames, dubbed the James Bond gun, that fires entagling lines into the propellers:

...Royal Navy and scientists from the Home Office have been testing and refining the "running gear entanglement system" in trials on the Solent.

It consists of a metal hook which is fired from a special gun, by compressed air propulsion, across the path of a fast-moving boat. As the hook flies through the air, it trails behind it a line of high-tensile rope with loops hanging from it. The rope snags on the boat's propeller, stalling the engine and bringing the vessel to a halt.

-snip-

The blueprint for the entanglement system came from the United States Coastguard, which claims the device has the potential to be "highly effective against small, high-speed vessels".
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...to-stop-terrorist-attack-from-the-Thames.html


- 2. Entangling nets as the one produced by Moscow Mills - dubbed "The Boat Trap" - that could be dropped off helos in the way of the skiffs or shot off the target ships, simple, effective and rather cheap compared to the ransom:

-snip - ...The Boat Trap uses a non-lethal ballistic net deployed from a helicopter into the path of a threatening boat. The net-based system ensnares the propellers of a target speedboat, sending an unambiguous and early threat warning and disabling the craft, preventing forward progress. The nets, which are opened by weights propelled from central charge blocks, foul the propellers, rudders and steering gear of boats, stopping them at a safe distance from potential targets.

By using the Boat Trap, defense and law-enforcement personnel will have another option that can help avoid the need to use guns or other lethal weapons in crowded harbors where stray bullets pose a threat to bystanders and non-combatants. In areas such as the Gulf of Aden where it is easy to mistake pirates for innocent fishermen or merchant traffic, the Boat Trap provides another option for securing ships.

The Boat Trap was developed in response to the attack on the USS Cole, in Yemen and is applicable anywhere small craft pose a threat or need to be stopped for interdiction purposes such as drug smuggling, piracy or human trafficking.

The current version is designed for deployment from helicopters, but new versions are in development that can be launched directly from ships or from harbor installations. The boat trap uses proprietary ballistic net technology developed by QinetiQ's Foster Miller unit in Waltham, Ma.
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http://sev.prnewswire.com/homeland-security/20090415/NEW00215042009-1.html

Rattler
 
I am a little confused here why is it we want to spend large sums of money to achieve nothing?

20-30mm HE cannon rounds are not horribly expensive and I am prepared to bet that between 2-20 of them through the side of a skiff at 200 meters will prevent both boarding and re-offending.

Do this often enough and I promise they will lose interest in trying to board ships.
 
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